Hofstra receives $20M gift, renames law school

Hofstra University is naming its law school after Maurice A. Deane, a former Endo Laboratories executive and law school graduate who made a $20 million donation, the university’s biggest single gift.

Hofstra said it’s renaming its roughly 40-year-old law school the Maurice A. Deane School of Law after the former pharmaceutical company executive, former Hofstra Law valedictorian and chairman emeritus of the university’s board of trustees.

Deane recently made a $20 million commitment to the law school, where he and his wife Barbara already endowed a Distinguished Professorship in Constitutional Law and a law school scholarship. Their names also adorn the school’s law library.

“I think it’s going to be transformative for the law school. The law school’s already on an upward trend in terms of student credentials and faculty,” Hofsta University President Stuart Rabinowitz said. “This will be a big boost in terms of attracting the best law school students around the country.”

Law School Dean Nora V. Demleitner said the donation will provide an ongoing stream of revenue, benefiting the school and students seeking to attend.

“We’re planning on using the vast majority of the interest that comes out of the gift to enhance student services and scholarship funding,” she said. “In the long term, it puts the law school in a much better position in terms of having a larger endowment.”

Deane worked in the pharmaceuticals industry for many years before enrolling in Hofstra’s law school at age 50.

He from 1951 to 1977 helped build Endo Laboratories into one of the largest privately-held pharmaceutical companies in the nation and facilitated its sale to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.

Deane was named president of the company, which operated as an independent subsidiary, until he retired eight years later and served on the board for several more years.

Endo’s two best selling drugs are coumadint, an anti-coagulant, and percodan, an analgesic.

After leaving Endo, Deane enrolled in the Hofstra School of Law, where he graduated first in his class in 1981 and received awards for constitutional law and evidence.

“I remember him well. He was the only 50-year-old in the class. He was a presence even as a student,” said Rabinowitz, who taught Deane. “He was a sort of den father to the rest of the students. Obviously, he was somebody of substance. He graduated first in his class. So everybody in the faculty knew him.”

Rabinowitz said Deane has had many roles at the law school and the university over the years, before making the latest donation.

“He was a brilliant student, distinguished alumnus and valuable adviser, trustee and chair emeritus of the board of trustees,” said Stuart Rabinowitz, who served as a professor and dean of the law school before taking the helm at the university.

Marilyn B. Monter, chairwoman of Hofstra’s board of trustees, said Deane has long been a key supporter of the law school.

“Maurice has been among the strongest advocates for Hofstra and our law school,” she said in a written statement. “It is a pleasure to be a part of this very special commemoration of all his contributions to our community.”

Hofstra named its annual award for the law school valedictorian the Maurice A. Deane Award in his honor.

Deane was a member of Hofstra’s board of trustees from 1982 to 2007, serving as chair from 1989-1991. He was named chairman emeritus in 2008.

The Deanes also donated money to the Mount Sinai Medical Center, where the Barbara and Maurice Deane Prostate Health and Research Center is named in their honor.